My wife Kelly Sparks is design director at Epic Sky, a new fashion brand that's all about empowering young teen and tween girls. Rather than just trying to guess what young people want in clothes, Epic Sky is working with hypertalented teenage designers to develop the collections, and a wide network of teens and tweens to vet the products and contribute content to their site. This past Sunday, the San Francisco Chronicle ran a big spread about the company. Congrats to co-founders Monika Rose and Marian Kown, Kelly, and all the badass women at Epic Sky! From the SF Chronicle:

“We’re all about empowerment and positivity,” says Kwon. “There are a lot of media messages about girls being perfect — that they’re not smart or pretty enough, while our mission is to inspire the epic in every girl. You don’t have to have a perfect body or be the most athletic, which is the pressure a lot of middle school girls face. Snapchat and Instagram put a lot of pressure on girls, too.”

“We offer clothes that fit girls and go beyond stereotypes,” says Rose. “As a mom, I want a brand I can say yes to — clothes that are appropriate for girls’ changing bodies and don’t promote early sexualization. On the market now, you go from a one-piece Speedo to a Brazilian thong, and there’s no option in-between for these girls.” Whereas Epic Sky bikinis, designed by Sausalito 17-year-old Antje Worring, actually look like they’d be comfortable and fun to swim in, not just lie around and look glamorous...

The way this crowd-sourced model works is that girls ages 10 to 18 from anywhere submit designs to Epic Sky, and every two weeks the team reviews the submissions. Once a design is chosen, “We bring them in, work with them, and they work with our designer to come up with a prototype, and the girls learn how to bring a product to market,” Kwon explains. “They bring the creativity, and it becomes a co-creation.”

My wife Kelly Sparks is design director at Epic Sky, a new fashion brand that's all about empowering young teen and tween girls. Rather than just trying to guess what young people want in clothes, Epic Sky is working with hypertalented teenage designers to develop the collections, and a wide network of teens and tweens to vet the products and contribute content to their site. This past Sunday, the San Francisco Chronicle ran a big spread about the company. Congrats to co-founders Monika Rose and Marian Kown, Kelly, and all the badass women at Epic Sky! From the SF Chronicle:

“We’re all about empowerment and positivity,” says Kwon. “There are a lot of media messages about girls being perfect — that they’re not smart or pretty enough, while our mission is to inspire the epic in every girl. You don’t have to have a perfect body or be the most athletic, which is the pressure a lot of middle school girls face. Snapchat and Instagram put a lot of pressure on girls, too.”

“We offer clothes that fit girls and go beyond stereotypes,” says Rose. “As a mom, I want a brand I can say yes to — clothes that are appropriate for girls’ changing bodies and don’t promote early sexualization. On the market now, you go from a one-piece Speedo to a Brazilian thong, and there’s no option in-between for these girls.” Whereas Epic Sky bikinis, designed by Sausalito 17-year-old Antje Worring, actually look like they’d be comfortable and fun to swim in, not just lie around and look glamorous...

The way this crowd-sourced model works is that girls ages 10 to 18 from anywhere submit designs to Epic Sky, and every two weeks the team reviews the submissions. Once a design is chosen, “We bring them in, work with them, and they work with our designer to come up with a prototype, and the girls learn how to bring a product to market,” Kwon explains. “They bring the creativity, and it becomes a co-creation.”

Epic Sky is a new fashion brand and Web site launching today that's all about empowering young teen and tween girls! Rather than just trying to guess what young people want in clothes, Epic Sky is working with hypertalented teenage designers to develop the collections and a wide network of teens and tweens to vet the products and contribute content to the site, from DIY projects to photos to op/eds. Monika Rose and Marian Kwon founded the company last year and my wife Kelly Sparks joined in January as design director! I've never seen Kelly more energized by a brand's vision and the creativity of all the people involved, especially her teenage collaborators. Congratulations to everyone at Epic Sky! From the Epic Sky site:

We believe in supporting girls and encouraging them to share their voices. We invite girls everywhere to participate in building this platform with us; a next generation brand crafted to share girl experiences and empower girls all over the world.

Moreover, we work with teens to create the clothes they love, and invite them to have a say in what they want. We work with girl designers to develop collections that we manufacture and sell on the site. In addition, we sell on-trend fashion essentials approved by our advisory board of 50 teens + tweens.

We bring it all together here at our one-of-a-kind online destination where girls can shop, read, get inspired, and experience a community which values their stories and passions.

Epic Sky is a new fashion brand and Web site launching today that's all about empowering young teen and tween girls! Rather than just trying to guess what young people want in clothes, Epic Sky is working with hypertalented teenage designers to develop the collections and a wide network of teens and tweens to vet the products and contribute content to the site, from DIY projects to photos to op/eds. Monika Rose and Marian Kwon founded the company last year and my wife Kelly Sparks joined in January as design director! I've never seen Kelly more energized by a brand's vision and the creativity of all the people involved, especially her teenage collaborators. Congratulations to everyone at Epic Sky! From the Epic Sky site:

We believe in supporting girls and encouraging them to share their voices. We invite girls everywhere to participate in building this platform with us; a next generation brand crafted to share girl experiences and empower girls all over the world.

Moreover, we work with teens to create the clothes they love, and invite them to have a say in what they want. We work with girl designers to develop collections that we manufacture and sell on the site. In addition, we sell on-trend fashion essentials approved by our advisory board of 50 teens + tweens.

We bring it all together here at our one-of-a-kind online destination where girls can shop, read, get inspired, and experience a community which values their stories and passions.

Anthony Bourdain has some hard-hitting questions about the characters on Nickelodeon's tween favorite iCarly, and he asked them on Twitter last night. Among his inquiries: "Does Spencer have a job? Besides hanging out with underage girls?" and "[W]hat's Marvin Marvin's story?" Perfectly valid things for a renowned traveler/chef/middle-aged man to wonder in front of an audience of millions. I think he should consider live-tweeting an entire day of programming on The Hub, but that's just me. (via Warming Glow)

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Anthony Bourdain has some hard-hitting questions about the characters on Nickelodeon's tween favorite iCarly, and he asked them on Twitter last night. Among his inquiries: "Does Spencer have a job? Besides hanging out with underage girls?" and "[W]hat's Marvin Marvin's story?" Perfectly valid things for a renowned traveler/chef/middle-aged man to wonder in front of an audience of millions. I think he should consider live-tweeting an entire day of programming on The Hub, but that's just me. (via Warming Glow)

Fourteen-year-old Luna Ito-Fisher started making her own clothes and accessories when she was nine, after attending a friend’s birthday party at a sewing studio in LA.

“I remember at the beginning, threading was so hard and I could never get it through the needle,” Luna tells me as she sets up her machine on her family’s dining room table. Now, she slides the thread through the tiny clips across the top of the machine, guides it up and down the rigging, licks the end and pokes it, like nothing, straight through the eye. (more…)

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Fourteen-year-old Luna Ito-Fisher started making her own clothes and accessories when she was nine, after attending a friend’s birthday party at a sewing studio in LA.

“I remember at the beginning, threading was so hard and I could never get it through the needle,” Luna tells me as she sets up her machine on her family’s dining room table. Now, she slides the thread through the tiny clips across the top of the machine, guides it up and down the rigging, licks the end and pokes it, like nothing, straight through the eye. (more…)